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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24666085">New Beginnings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Homestuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Domestic Violence, Explosions, F/F, F/M, Murder, Original Character(s), Oviparous Trolls (Homestuck), Self-Mutilation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:14:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,680</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24666085</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eridan had never supplied a bucket for the mother grub. He hadn’t been seen by any of the gods after the game. This is why it was confusing that Angela reminded Kanaya of Eridan so much.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eridan Ampora &amp; Kanaya Maryam, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Good morning, class.”</p><p>“Good morning Mrs. Maryam.” The little troll children all smiled at Kanaya. </p><p>There were already a few generations of trolls and humans. The gods still had to help with many things, but the planet was starting to become more self sufficient as it progressed. </p><p>The gods, unlike everyone around them, did not age. When all the humans, trolls, and dancestors appeared in the new universe, they had all been wearing god tier clothing and had received the powers that accompanied them.</p><p>Kanaya, after working in the brooding caverns for years, had been getting a little bored. She loved her job, but she wanted to try helping out in other areas of raising grubs. She had volunteered to be a part time teacher.</p><p>“Today we are going to continue working on the project,” Kanaya explained. “Please get out your materials and get started. Ask me if you need help with anything.”</p><p>The children all got out their papers, pencils, and crayons. Kanaya walked around the room, watching the children, and helping them when they asked.</p><p>The original matriorb had been destroyed, but another one had been created by one of the humans. The issue with it having been created by a human is that the mother grub hatched from the matriorb had taken some cues from human reproduction. Instead of creating identical copies of the troll who had supplied the genetic material, the mother grub would mix the genetic material and create trolls who were a combination of the genetics, simular to humans. This had created a wide variety of trolls who all looked very different.</p><p>One of the trolls raised their hand, so Kanaya walked over. The troll was a small girl named Angela. She had hair that went down to her elbows and she dressed nicer than most of the other students. The main characteristic that made her stand out is that her horns appeared to have been cut right above where the color changed to yellow.The cut was clean, and looked like it had been surgically done. Kanaya assumed they had to be removed due to an infection or tumor. The little girl also refused to give out her last name. The little girl was a violet blooded seadweller, meaning she got most of her genetics from Cronus.</p><p>Eridan had never supplied a bucket for the mother grub. He hadn’t been seen by any of the gods after the game. This is why it was confusing that Angela reminded Kanaya of Eridan so much. Sure, Eridan and Cronus were each other’s dancestors, but Angela was much more like Eridan than Cronus. The way Angela acted and talked so similar to Eridan it was uncanny.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The biggest problem Eridan faced was people seeing his horns, fins, and facial features, and thinking he was Cronus. This made it harder than he would have liked to lay low.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The story of how the gods arrived on the new planet was known by everyone. The gods who survived the game woke up on the beds in their temples. They walked outside to find thirty two temples in three circles. Eight temples for the humans, and twenty four for all the trolls. Over the course of a few months, the gods who died appeared in the beds of their temples. They would stumble outside and walk towards the buildings the gods were living in. They set up their original houses on a hill, so they could be seen by anybody new.</p><p>The gods made the population and civilization of the world. The mother grub was used to create more trolls and humans. The gods worked to build housing and other important buildings for the new citizens. As the first generations reached adulthood, they helped the gods build what was needed.</p><p>Eridan had woken up in his temple, wearing the stupid prince of hope god tier clothing, and immediately panicked. In an attempt to avoid the other gods, he ran in the opposite direction of the houses. He lived in the woods for a little bit, unable to starve to death. The sun, with enough exposure, did burn his skin. He found a cave and hid in there. Around the fourth generation, Eridan decided he could risk going outside. Avoiding the gods, he signed up for housing and got a job cutting and styling hair. He spent all the time he wasn’t working in his apartment to avoid people.</p><p>The biggest problem Eridan faced was people seeing his horns, fins, and facial features, and thinking he was Cronus. This made it harder than he would have liked to lay low.</p><p>It was a regular day, but then someone saw him on the street, and despite covering his face and fins with a hood, he was mistaken for Cronus. It was the horns. Because of whatever the mother grub was doing, no one had identical horns to the gods. It made Eridan angry at his horns. He didn’t want to be recognized. He didn’t want the gods to find him. He ran home, thinking about how much he hated himself and his stupid horns. He was in a rage by the time he got home. He couldn’t think straight.</p><p>The knife he held shook in his hand. He didn’t remember picking it up or walking to the bathroom mirror. He clenched his jaw as he put the knife against the first of his horns. He screamed, but it sounded distant to his ears. The first horn fell to the ground. The pain just fueled the rage. The second horn fell to the ground, and he looked down at them. They became blurry, and then he fainted.</p><p>Eridan woke up on his bathroom floor next to his horns. He stared at himself in the mirror and cried, but in the end Eridan couldn’t bring himself to regret it. No one ever mistook him for Cronus again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kanaya knew that on Eridan’s wriggling day each year, a few of the other gods would put flowers and other gifts around Eridan’s temple.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kanaya knew that on Eridan’s wriggling day each year, a few of the other gods would put flowers and other gifts around Eridan’s temple. The citizens had assumed he was dead, so they also put up a sign that said “please come back”. They were pretty sure he wasn’t dead. Everybody else came back, so he was most likely just hiding. Kanaya hadn’t gone because she still felt betrayed.</p><p class="pesterlog">-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] started trolling cuttlefishCuller [CC] --</p><p class="kanaya">GA: I Heard From Rose That You Are Planning Something For Eridan’s Wriggling Day.</p><p class="feferi">CC: )(ey Kanaya!</p><p class="feferi">CC: I am planning somefin for -Eridan's wriggling day.</p><p class="feferi">CC: Do you want to )(elp?</p><p class="kanaya">GA: I Do Not Think YOu Should Do Something For His Wriggling Day.</p><p class="feferi">CC: I want )(im to min-ow he’s allowed to come back. I don’t think )(e should be hiding from us.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: He Murdered Us. Maybe It Is Best If He Stays Away.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: He Is Probably Doing It For The Attention. If You Do This He Will Just Come Running Back And Do It All Over Again.</p><p class="feferi">CC: )(e deserves a second c)(ance!</p><p class="kanaya">GA: I Think You Should Reconsider.</p><p class="pesterlog">-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] ceased trolling cuttlefishCuller [CC] --</p><p>Kanaya had been wrong. Eridan didn’t come back, and seeing so much of how he acted in Angela had made her remember their friendship. Now, she felt conflicted. She felt mad and betrayed, but she also missed him greatly. The reason his betrayal hurt so much was because he had been one of her close friends.<br/>
This year, she went. Feferi and Karkat always organized it, and some of the other trolls went too. When Feferi saw her there, she smiled. Some of the citizens came to watch. Feferi held Aradia’s hand.</p><p>“He was my best friend and I just wish things had gone differently.”</p><p>Kanaya understood how Feferi felt.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Then she left, but he remembered her better than his other customers.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eridan met her at work. She was an olive blood who came in to get her hair dyed. While he dyed her hair, they talked. Eridan learned her name was Vilira. She didn’t seem to mind that he stuttered on the v in her name. He told her about how he had been hatched with a violet streak in his hair, and how he dyed it black now. She told him about how she had been dying her hair light blue for years because she had done it once and thought it was the coolest thing. Then she left, but he remembered her better than his other customers.</p><p>When Vilira came in again to get her hair redyed, she specifically asked for him. He smiled at her, and they talked again.</p><p>“How-w hav-ve you been?”</p><p>“I’ve been wonderful! How about you?”</p><p>“About the same. I don’t really do much.” Eridan smiled nervously at her.</p><p>“Oh, me neither. My work doesn’t require a lot of time to do as long as I keep everything spaced out. I’ve been watching a lot of the videos the gods put up, lately.”</p><p>“I don’t really w-watch those. Are they any good?” The thought of the other gods made Eridan uncomfortable. He couldn't watch videos of the others enjoying their lives because he wasn't there to bother them. Any time anything about the gods came on the tv or social media, he quickly changed it to something else.</p><p>“Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It’s mostly just something to do.” Vilitra laughed at this.</p><p>“I tried w-watching some of the human gods’ v-videos, but most of the gods just had no sense of fashion.” He had been able to stamach maybe five or so of the humans' videos, but his friends were usually in the background, so he had given up.</p><p>“Oh, I can agree with that! The Lalondes and Jane are the only ones who dress well.”</p><p>“Ha, yeah! And Jade’s outfits w-would be good if she w-wasn’t alw-ways getting them dirty.”</p><p>“Exactly! Dude, we should hang out sometime.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Vilira reached into her pocket and handed Eridan her phone. “Put your trollian handle in my phone, and we can plan something later.”</p><p>They met up a week later at a coffee shop. Eridan, excited to have a friend after being alone for so long, dressed up. He had stopped wearing clothes that would draw attention to himself to avoid being recognized by any of the gods. At some point, they had given out a description of what he tended to wear to see if people could find him. He no longer wore his cape, scarf, or rings. He just wore sweaters to work and sweatshirts with the hood up anywhere else. He got pants and shoes that weren’t striped, too. He didn’t put his sign on any of his clothing.</p><p>“You know how some trolls have the ability to grow eggs in their bodies like humans grow babies?” Vilira asked. Eridan vaguely recalled hearing something about that. It was definitely something that would have gotten someone culled on Alternia.</p><p>“Yeah.” Eridan vaguely recalled hearing something about that. It was definitely something that would have gotten someone culled on Alternia.</p><p> "I think it's called being oviparous. Do you know if that’s something you have? It’s pretty common in seadwellers.” Vilira leaned closer to him.</p><p>“I don’t know-w. I’ve nev-ver really had the chance to find out.”</p><p>“I think they can check at the doctors.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah, they can scan your body with an ultrasound or something and see if you have the correct organs to do it in place.”</p><p>“Huh, maybe I’ll ask the next time I hav-ve a check up or something.”</p><p>“Yeah, maybe. It’s just an option.” Vilira leaned back in her seat. The conversation moved on, but the thought stayed in Eridan’s head.</p><p>He had continued talking to Vilira on Trollian almost everyday. He tried not to troll her too much. He knew that was one of the things his friends had complained about him doing. He also tried not to complain or whine a lot. He was very careful not to say anything about her blood or the hemospectrum. Since she was from this new universe, he doubted she would even know what the hemospectrum was. They met up once a week to talk about fashion, movies, celebrity quadrants, or whatever they had been doing that week. It was fun, and Eridan was happy to have a friend again.</p><p>It turned out the next time Eridan had a check up was the next month. He went in and the doctor told him he was healthy but that he should go outside and sleep more often. Then Eridan brought up that he wanted to know if he was oviparous. His doctor set up an appointment for him to get an ultrasound, and he left.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kanaya learned a lot about her students. She unconsciously started paying more attention to Angela. When asked to share what she had done over the weekend, Angela would always talk about how much she loved spending time with her father. She was very good at reading and writing. She had strong opinions about movies and fashion. Overall, Angela was a normal, sweet young girl who had a lovely smile.</p><p>Then, she would get into an argument with another student and her lovely smile would be replaced with a scowl. And her fins would flare. And Kanaya would see Eridan. Kanaya would break up the argument, but would be on edge for the rest of the day.</p><p>One time when Angela scowled and started yelling, all Kanaya could see was Eridan with the wand in his hand aimed at her. She let the full time teacher break up the argument and excused herself.</p><p class="pesterlog">-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] started trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] --</p><p class="kanaya">GA: Rose May I Talk To You About Something?</p><p class="rose">TT: Of course. What is it?</p><p class="kanaya">GA: Whenever I Interact With One Of My Students, A Girl Named Angela, I Am Reminded Of Eridan, The Troll God That Has Not Come Back.</p><p class="rose">TT: The one who killed you?</p><p class="kanaya">GA: Yes.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: She Looks And Acts Just Like Him Just A Little Too Much For Me To Be Comfortable Around. She Is A Lovely Young Girl, But I Have Not Been Able To Stop Associating Her With Eridan.</p><p class="rose">TT: Try focusing on what is different about them.</p><p class="rose">TT: Maybe that could help make them seperate in your head.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: That Is The Problem. The Only Differences I Can Find Are That She Smiles More And Is Generally More Polite.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: The Way She Talks, Cares About What She Wears, Her Expressive Fins, Her Blood Color, All Of It Is The Same.</p><p class="rose">TT: What about her horns?</p><p class="kanaya">GA: Her Horns Were Cut Off Below Where Eridan’s Horns Would Start To Bend. They Look Like THey Were Surgically Cut Off. My Mind Keeps Filling In The Empty Space Above The Cut With The Shape Of Eridan’s Horns.</p><p class="rose">TT: Maybe try telling yourself in your head that she is a separate person whenever you see her, so you will start automatically thinking that.</p><p class="rose">TT: Maybe try to focus on it less so it sinks to the background of your thoughts.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: I Will Try But I Do Not Know If It Will Help.</p><p class="rose">TT: Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: It Is Alright, Dear.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: &lt;3</p><p class="rose">TT: &lt;3</p><p class="pesterlog">-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] ceased trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] --</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>CA: i havve the results</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="pesterlog">-- caesarAquamarine [CA] started trolling torrentialGravity [TG] --</p><p class="eridan">CA: i wwas thinkin about wwhat you said to me the first time wwe met up</p><p class="nepeta">TG: Which part?</p><p class="eridan">CA: you said i could get the doctor to check if i am ovviparous</p><p class="nepeta">TG: Did you find out?</p><p class="eridan">CA: no im about to</p><p class="eridan">CA: im in the waitin room at the doctors</p><p class="nepeta">TG: ooooh tell me when you find out the results</p><p class="eridan">CA: i wwill</p><p class="eridan">CA: theyre callin me i got to go</p><p class="nepeta">TG: bye!!!!</p><p class="pesterlog">-- caesarAquamarine [CA] ceased trolling torrentialGravity [TG] --</p><p class="pesterlog">-- caesarAquamarine [CA] started trolling torrentialGravity [TG] --</p><p class="eridan">CA: i havve the results</p><p class="nepeta">TG: What are they????</p><p class="eridan">CA: i am ovviparous</p><p class="nepeta">TG: Really????</p><p class="eridan">CA: yeah turns out im some kind of mutant freak too</p><p class="nepeta">TG: A mutant???? What does that mean????</p><p class="eridan">CA: its not important</p><p class="nepeta">TG: Okay.</p><p class="nepeta">TG: We still meeting up tomorrow????</p><p class="eridan">CA: yeah</p><p class="nepeta">TG: See you tomorrow then!!!!</p><p class="nepeta">TG: &lt;3</p><p class="pesterlog">-- torrentialGravity [TG] ceased trolling caesarAquamarine [CA] --</p><p class="eridan">CA: what</p><p>When Eridan got to the coffee shop where they always met up, Vilira was already there. He got his coffee and sat down. His heart beat loudly. Vilira had sent him a heart which is what you send to your matesprit. Did she want to be his matesprit? She was nice, pretty, and his best friend. What if he messed it up? What if she grew to platonically hate him like all his other friends did? She just smiled at him. She reached over and took his hand. She intertwined their fingers.</p><p>“W-what are you doing,” Eridan choked out.</p><p>“Would you like to be my matesprit?”</p><p>Eridan thought about it. His friends had always said that he was a desperate asshole and unlovable. Vilira didn’t think that, though. She seemed to like him, pissy attitude and all.</p><p>“I w-would love to be your matesprit.”</p><p>“Then we are.” Vilira squeezed his hand. They continued to talk and hold hands for the rest of their date. When they went to leave, Vilira walked Eridan home and kissed him before leaving. For the next few months, everything went really well. They kissed, went on dates, and stayed up late talking on Trollian. Eridan was happier than he had ever been since the game.</p><p>Then Vriska came into Eridan’s workplace to get a haircut. Eridan hid in the backroom until she was gone, too scared to confront her. She hadn't seen him.</p><p class="pesterlog">-- caesarAquamarine [CA] started trolling torrentialGravity [TG] --</p><p class="eridan">CA: vvilira</p><p class="nepeta">TG: Yes????</p><p class="eridan">CA: im kind of panicking</p><p class="nepeta">TG: About What????</p><p class="eridan">CA: i kneww this group of trolls my wwhole life</p><p class="eridan">CA: then wwe had a fallin out</p><p class="eridan">CA: one of them came into my wworkplace</p><p class="eridan">CA: i dont feel safe</p><p class="nepeta">TG: You don’t feel safe????</p><p class="eridan">CA: they might try to kill me</p><p class="nepeta">TG: Really????</p><p class="eridan">CA: theyvve done it before</p><p class="nepeta">TG: They've tried to kill you before???? I really don’t feel good about you working someplace where someone who's tried to kill you could just come in whenever!!!!</p><p class="eridan">CA: i dont knoww wwhat to do</p><p class="nepeta">TG: Why don’t you come work with me????</p><p class="eridan">CA: wwith you?</p><p class="nepeta">TG: I was gonna ask you to move in with me anyway. You can come work with me too!!!!</p><p>A week later, Eridan had moved into Vilira’s house and quit his job. Vilira said that she could pay for everything for now until he started working with her. She hadn't told him what she did, yet, but he didn't worry about it.

They pailed for the first time. Falling asleep with his matesprit in his arms, warm and content, Eridan felt alive in a way he hadn’t since the game.</p><p>It was only after he started showing signs of being gravid, much later, that he remembered he was oviparous. It had slipped his mind during the panic of avoiding Vriska, and the buisiness of moving. Vilira seemed so happy, though, that he didn’t panic. He just continued letting Vilira buy him food and clothes, and help him with the whole process.</p><p>She told him that her job was selling troll eggs. It wasn't legal, so she made him swear he wouldn't tell anyone. She worked with a handful of oviparous trolls. They would occasionally contact her and tell her about how they were doing. Once they laid the eggs, she would go to where they lived and collect them. She did not let him go to the doctors. She said she couldn’t sell them if people who wouldn’t like that knew about him being gravid. Someone from Vilira's company would come in to check on him instead. Vilira wouldn't tell him if they were a real doctor or not.</p><p>Vilira told him she was going to sell the eggs he laid. The thought of someone taking his eggs away from him panicked him, but he didn’t say anything. After five month of being gravid, he laid the eggs on their bed with Vilira helping him. She put the eggs in a container, and took them to where they would be incubated for the other three months. Eridan cried when he realized his eggs were gone and were never coming back. He felt empty.</p><p>“The first time’s always the worst.” Vilira rubbed his hair and what was left of his horns while he cried.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“As most of you probably know, guardian day is coming up! You are going to be making cards for your parents, lusus, or guardians.” Kanaya stood at the front of the room and watched as the students started getting materials and talking to each other.</p><p>She walked around the room and looked at the childrens’ cards. When she got to Angela, she told herself Angela wasn’t Eridan in her head like Rose suggested, and looked at the card. Angela had drawn a picture of herself next to a presumably gravid troll. Either that or Angela had drawn them weird. She was a young child, still. She had drawn the troll with horns that also cut off above where they turned to yellow, but she had drawn the jagged like Equius's broken horn.</p><p>“Who is this?” Kanaya pointed at her drawing.</p><p>“My dad!” Angela smiled up at her.</p><p>“Is he gravid?”</p><p>“Yeah.” She went back to her coloring.</p><p>“Do you have a lot of siblings then?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“No?”</p><p>“Dad’s matesprit takes the eggs somewhere and they never come back.”</p><p>“Your mom takes the eggs away?” Kanaya tilted her head.</p><p>“She’s not my mom. She doesn’t like being called that. Dad says I’m not allowed to bother her.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“Dad doesn’t like being gravid, so maybe I shouldn’t have drawn him like that.” Angela frowned at the card.</p><p>“You could redo it if you think he would prefer that,” Kanaya suggested. “Why is he gravid if he does not like it?”</p><p>“Says it’s his job. He doesn’t like what it does to his body, though. He says he used to be prettier.”</p><p>“And what is your father’s name?” Even though it was irrational, Kanaya was worried she knew the answer already.</p><p>“Why do you want to know?” Angela looked up at her again. Her eyes were squinted.</p><p>“Parent-teacher meetings are coming up. I thought I’d get a head start.”</p><p>“Dad said his name is Eridan.”</p><p>“It was nice talking to you Angela.” Kanaya walked away. She asked to be excused again and took a walk through the school halls.</p><p class="pesterlog">-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] started trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] --</p><p class="kanaya">GA: Do You Recall The Coversation We Had Regarding My Student Angela.</p><p class="rose">TT: Yes.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: I Had Thought At One Point That Maybe She Was His Daughter, But Eridan Has Been Missing For Years, And Used To Boast About How He Was The Perfect Example Of An Aletnian Citizen.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: The Students Are All Making Cards For Guardians Day, And I Asked Her About Her Father. Then I Asked His Name Because I Remembered Thinking Eridan Was Her Father.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: She Told Me Her Father’s Name Is Eridan.</p><p class="rose">TT: Oh?</p><p class="kanaya">GA: I Will Have To Talk To Him For The First Time Since We Killed Each Other At A Parent-Teacher Conference.</p><p class="rose">TT: That does not sound ideal.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: It Is Not.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: I Should Go Back To Class.</p><p class="kanaya">GA: We Can Disscuss This Later.</p><p class="rose">TT: &lt;3</p><p class="kanaya">GA: &lt;3</p><p class="pesterlog">-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] ceased trolling tentacleTherapist [TT] --</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>He had sentenced enough grubs to their deaths as an orphaner. He wanted his to live.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eridan became gravid and laid eggs that were swiftly taken away from him twice over the next year and a half. It made him feel sick, but as Vilira said, the first time had been the worst. He made the mistake of asking Vilira where the wrigglers from his eggs went. She told him that they were most likely killed and used for making stuff, but she didn’t know much. People tended to keep information about what they were illegally doing secret. She knew they weren't kept alive, though.</p><p>That really destroyed him. Nightmares about his wrigglers dying added on to the already long list of nightmares he had. He had sentenced enough grubs to their deaths as an orphaner. He wanted his to live.</p><p>He would have asked Vilira if he could stop doing this, but she had started acting differently the second time he was gravid. She only acted like she loved him if he did what she wanted. If he went against something she said, she wouldn't touch him or talk to him. He didn’t want to lose her, she was the only person he had. She decided leaving the hive wasn't safe when he was gravid or when he was recovering from laying the eggs. Eridan didn't want to go outside and risk being discovered, so he let that become a rule without much complaining. Then Vilira started keeping track of any messages he was sending on Trollian to the one or two people from work he occasionally spoke to. After a while of this, she demanded he block them and cut off all communication with them. After she wouldn't even look at him or acknowledge he was in the room for a week, he gave in and blocked them.</p><p>Eridan was lonely. Vilira was never interested in spending time with him, and he had no one else to talk to. He was also bored out of his mind. He had given up on watching the news or anything online or tv because it all revolved around the gods still. He wished that the universe could become independant enough to make any entertainment that didnt use or mention the gods in some way. His lonliness, boredom, and the crippiling saddness that accompanied his eggs being taken from him resulted in him making up dreams of raising a wriggler. These fantasies were the only thing that kept him happy, and soon, even they left a bitter taste in his mouth. He didn't want it to be a fantsy. He wanted, no needed, to keep one of his eggs.</p><p>“Please let me keep one,” Eridan begged when he was gravid for the fourth time. “I’ll do anythin. I just w-want one.” He hated that he had to resort to begging. He never would have before the game, but so much had changed. He no longer deserved the dignity he once had. At the same time, he wished he could just take what he wanted without fear of it leaving him alone again. He didn't want to hurt Vilira like he had hurt so many others, so he resorted to begging instead of the force he would've used before the game.</p><p>"No."</p><p>"Please, please, w-why not?"</p><p>“We’ll be losing a lot of money by not selling it, and wrigglers are expensive to raise, so we’ll be losing even more."</p><p>"I'll do anythin!"</p><p>"You’ll do anything?”</p><p>“Anythin.” Eridan teared up as a small burst of hope made his head feel light.</p><p>“Okay. I’ll let you keep one egg this time. Then after that, you’ll have to start making custom eggs.”</p><p>“Custom eggs?”</p><p>“My clients come in and get you gravid themselves.”</p><p>“I,” Eridan said, struggling to speak, “I don’t, you w-want w-what?”</p><p>“I said if you want to keep an egg you have to make up the money we’ll be losing by doing custom eggs. Clients pay more for them.” Vilitra crossed her arms and glared at him.</p><p>"W-will these grubs get to liv-ve?"</p><p>"No, Eridan, none of them live! It's just to make sure they have certain features or blood colors." Vilira sighed and turned away from Eridan. "I'll tell one of my clients that you'll make them custom eggs and you can keep one of the eggs you're making now."</p><p>That was how Eridan found himself tucking in his newly hatched wriggler, after having watched the egg incubate for three months. He pet his wriggler's head one more time before following Vilira into their bedroom. Vilira left after locking him in the room with a blue blooded troll. He laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. He tried to pretend it was his matesprit, but the troll touched was different. They moved, smelled, and felt different, so when they touched him, Eridan was unable to pretend it was Vilira. For a moment, he considered just ripping this troll's throat out and running away. He was scared if he backed out, Vilira would take his wriggler away. That grub was the only thing that made him continue to lie still. When he felt the bulge, colder than his matesprit's, start to enter his nook, and the body, larger than his matesprit's, breathing heavily over him, he just turned his head to the side and tried not to cry. Afterwards, when Vilira came in to clean him up, she smiled at him and told him she loved him for the first time in months.</p><p>He spent the night crying into his pillow, and holding his wriggler in his arms. It kept licking the tears off his face and chirping, enjoying the salt. Vilitra came in and got into the bed with him. She hugged him and rubbed his hair while he cried, but it didn’t make him feel better. She didn’t comfort him anymore. He just hugged his wriggler closer.</p><p>Her name was Angela. Vilira had suggested the name because Eridan apparently muttered stuff about angels while dreaming. He didn’t want to tell her they were nightmares. He figured if he named his wriggler after something the other gods knew he hated, they would be less likely to recognize her as his daughter. She had his horns, and fins, and blood color. She had no strip of purple in her hair, and her hair had the same waviness to it that Vilitra’s hair did.</p><p>Once she molted into a troll, and would have to start school, Eridan contacted a plastic surgeon. They specialized in making replacement horns to fix broken ones, but Vilira was able to pay them extra to cut off Angela’s horns. They made sure she had enough pain medicine, so she wouldn’t feel the same pain Eridan had when he had cut off his horns himself. Vilira understood why she needed her horns cut off. They were the same as the god Cronus’s horns. She said understood how that might be annoying, but Eridan knew it was mostly his distress over her horns that made her okay with it. Eridan felt horrible for doing this to his daughter for his own gain, but it didn't seem to cause Angela any problems, so the guilt faded with time.</p><p>In his fantsies, Vilira had raised the troll alongside him. She did not do that in reality. She refused to be called Anegla's mother and refused to interact with Angela at all. Eridan bathed, fed, dressed, and played with daughter by himself. He helped her with her homework and watched movies with her. His favorite thing to do with Angela was to take her swimming when he wasn't gravid. He would pull her through the ocean and they would spent hours underneath the water. His old hatred for smimming had worn off because he no longer cared so much about his appearance, so being drenched in water was less annoying than it used to be. She made friends at school quickly and he was glad. She would spend time at her friends' houses over the weekend. When the parents of Angela's friends asked to exchange Trollian handles, he would give an excuse and decline. He wished Vilira would let him talk to anyone else, any other troll or human, but she didn't. He had to be content with just her and Angela.</p><p>Eridan continued doing custom eggs for Vilira. After her clients left, he would hug Angela. He never cried after the first time. He would just lie there. He always felt uncomfortable in his own body afterwards. Uncomfortable and violated.</p><p>“I can’t do this anymore,” Eridan told Vilira when she told him another clint was coming in.</p><p>“What?” Vilira glared at him.</p><p>“The fuckin custom eggs! I don’t like these people comin in and touchin me.”</p><p>“It’s the one job you have! You do nothing else to support us. Do you not care about me anymore?”</p><p>“I care about you! You don’t treat me like your matesprit anymore! Do you ev-ven care about me?”</p><p>“You’re lucky. Out of all the oviparous trolls I work with, I chose you to be my matesprit.”</p><p>“If you make me do this again, I’m gonna leave!”</p><p>“You can’t leave. You don’t have any money that isn’t from me. How are you going to support your daughter?”</p><p>“I can go back to the job I had before this!”</p><p>“You ran from that place because there were people there trying to kill you!”</p><p>Eridan growled, showing his teeth, and flared his fins. He could feel a rage building up.</p><p>Then Vilira slapped him. It shocked Eridan so badly, his building rage disappeared. He put his hand to his aching face. Vilira's whole attitude immediatly shifted. She looked at him sadly and reached up to pet his horns.</p><p>“Hey, I’m sorry I’ve been distant lately. I could sit in with you and the client if that would make you feel better.”</p><p>Eridan didn’t respond, so Vilira just leaned up and kissed him. Eridan let her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kanaya laid in her bed, next to Rose, who was sleeping. The parent-teacher conference with Eridan was tomorrow. She couldn’t sleep.</p>
<p>Did he know she was one of Angela's teachers? What would he say? What would he do? Would he try to attack her? His daughter clearly loved him, so he at least matured enough to raise a kid. Angela hadn’t ever mentioned the hemospectrum, so he hadn’t told her about it. Maybe it wouldn’t go badly, but what if it did? Questions swirled around Kanaya’s head. She got out of bed, knowing she wasn’t going to sleep.</p>
<p class="pesterlog">-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] started trolling caligulasAquarium [CA] --</p>
<p class="kanaya">GA: I Know You Have Not Responded To Anyone, But I Wish I Could Talk To You.</p>
<p class="pesterlog">-- caligulasAquarium [CA] is now an idle troll --</p>
<p class="kanaya">GA: I Do Not Have Any Idea What To Say To You.</p>
<p class="kanaya">GA: You Killed Me. Then I Killed You. We Have Not Met Since We Were Thirteen.</p>
<p class="kanaya">GA: I Used To Feel So Betrayed By You, But Now I Miss You. What Should I Do?</p>
<p class="pesterlog">-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] ceased trolling caligulasAquarium [CA] --</p>
<p>Kanaya went back to bed and tried to sleep. She was awake all night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Before and during the game, he had been beautiful.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eridan sat on the couch with Angela curled up next to him. He played a game on his phone as Angela watched some kids movie on the tv.</p>
<p>“We are making cards in school for guardians day.” Angela looked up at him.</p>
<p>“Don’t you have to keep that secret so it’s a surprise?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but I have a question.”</p>
<p>“W-what is it?”</p>
<p>“I was trying to draw you on my card and I drew you with the egg belly.”</p>
<p>“You mean gravid.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I drew you gravid because you are. I wanted to redo it because you don’t like being gravid. One of the teachers asked why you were gravid so much if you didn’t like it. I told her it is your job, but I don’t know. Why are you always gravid?”</p>
<p>“It is my job.”</p>
<p>“Why is it your job if you hate it?”</p>
<p>“My matesprit wants it to be my job.”</p>
<p>“Why is she your matesprit if she hits you sometimes? Are you vacillating?”</p>
<p>“No.” Eridan put his hands on his face. “Ang, w-when I w-was younger, I, I did some bad things. I hurt people. I w-was a pathetic, desperate jerk. I kinda deserv-ve w-whatev-ver I get.”</p>
<p>Angela turned back to her movie, and Eridan went back to his phone. He checked to see if he had any messages on Trollian. He didn’t.</p>
<p>When the movie was over, he tucked Angela into bed and went to the ablution block. He stared at himself in the mirror.</p>
<p>Before and during the game, he had been beautiful. Then, he had cut off his horns, leaving a jagged mess instead of the elegant horns his ancestor had passed down to him. His gravid belly stuck out inside his sweatshirt. The effect being gravid so many times had on his body wasn’t pretty either. His hips and feet were wide, and there was lingering fat he was never able to exercise away during the months between when he was gravid. All the weight gain and loss had resulted in many stretch marks covering the skin along his hips and abdomen. He had bags under his eyes and he had given up styling his hair. On one hand, he could barely stand looking at himself. On the other, he had managed to make himself so unrecognizable to the person the other players had known that he was sure that they wouldn’t be able to recognize him if they didn't look at him closely. He felt more confident being in public places because of how different he looked.</p>
<p>In her nice moments, Vilira said he still looked pretty. He wasn’t as ugly as he thought he was. She liked him just how he was. Other times, she would hit him and tell him that she would dump his ugly ass and go live with someone beautiful that wouldn’t hurt her eyes so much to look at. He couldn’t stand the thought of being alone again, so he would sit there and let her yell at him. If he had been this ugly during the game, there was no way any of his friends would have put up with his behavior as much as they did. He was sure of it. He had been so beautiful.</p>
<p>He knew he shouldn’t be idolizing how he used to be. There was a reason he had been thrown into the new universe alone and hated by every other player. He had been horrible. He was a murderer who deserved to be killed. He had spent many nights after the game ended, coming up with fantasies of the other players begging him to come back. They never hated him. They understood how he felt. They understood why they should all love him. Eridan even thought he saw something on the tv for his birthday once when he was quickly switching channels. He desperately wanted to switchthe channels back and see if he could find it, if it was real. He shook it off, though. He had been so entitled and pretentious during the game. He had thought he deserved the love and attention of everyone and control of everything. He had to accept that they had the right to hate him and would be happier without him existing.</p>
<p>It had been a slow process, but he got there. He had successfully squashed his inflated ego down. He forced himself to spend hours researching landwellers and lowbloods. He forced himself to rethink through all his past actions, but in a negative light. He now understands that he hadn’t been entitled to anything. He had to work for acceptance and recognition, and be a good person to deserve it. Then he met Vilira, and now he understands that no matter what he does, he will never deserve anyone’s love, hate, or pity.</p>
<p>He smiled at himself in the mirror.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>There were five minutes until Eridan would walk through that door. The five minutes turned to one minute. Then the door knob turned and the door swept open.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kanaya took some deep breaths and tried her best to stay calm. She sat on one side of the table in the middle of the room with the full time teacher. The meeting before the one with Angela’s parents had just ended. It had been a standard parent-teacher conference with a bear lusus of a young boy in the class.</p><p>There were five minutes until Eridan would walk through that door. The five minutes turned to one minute. Then the door knob turned and the door swept open.</p><p>He was almost unrecognizable. If she hadn’t lived on a meteor with him for as long as she did, seeing his face everyday, she might not have recognized him. The main difference is that he was massively gravid. He was wearing a big sweatshirt, sweatpants, and ugly sneakers. His hair wasn’t styled, leaving his bangs hanging in his face, and in that mess was what remained of his horns.</p><p>Worst of all, was the panic that settled in his eyes as he spotted you. He stopped walking, but then noticed the other teacher in the room.</p><p>“Come sit over here so we can discuss Angela’s growth so far this year.” The teacher gestured to the chair across the table from her. Eridan glanced at Kanaya, so she nodded at him. He continued walking to the table and sat down.</p><p>As the meeting went on, Eridan’s behavior shocked her. He didn’t talk unless he was asked a question. When he did speak, he talked in short statements, trying to answer the question quickly, so he could return to not speaking. He showed no emotion on his face besides the panic in his eyes and his fins never even twitched. In the game, Eridan’s fins and face were constantly shifting, as he dramatically expessed everything he felt. He had been so expressive and open with his emotions. He looked almost empty, carpared to how he used to be.</p><p>Kanaya only said a few things to him during the meeting. He couldn’t meet her eyes. He stared at his hands, devoid of his rings, when she spoke. When he replied to a question, his voice quivered.</p><p>The only time he showed any other emotion besides fear was when he spoke about Angela. He wouldn’t smile, he never had, but all his other body language and the tone of his voice showed happiness and pride. He clearly loved his daughter.</p><p>When the teacher went to shake his hand at the end of the meeting, he flinched, but reached out to comply. Eridan had been so touch-starved in the game that he would have shaken someone’s hand for days if they had let him. He let go of the teacher’s hand as soon as he could.</p><p>Then he left. The meeting had been so anticlimactic and strange that Kanaya was in a daze for the rest of the day, wondering if it had even been real.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The run in with Kanaya had forced Eridan to think about his old friends for the first time in ages.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A week after Eridan saw Kanaya again, he laid the eggs. He spent the rest of that month recovering, and then starting to exercise to try to get rid of some of the fat.</p><p>The run in with Kanaya had forced Eridan to think about his old friends for the first time in ages. When he laid in bed at night, unable to sleep, he would go over every interaction he remembered with all of his old friends over and over again. He had expected Kanaya to kill him again if she ever saw him. He didn’t know why she had just him go. She hadn’t even said anything to him that wasn't about Angela. She acted like she didn’t care.</p><p>That relieved Eridan. He had turned his need for attention into this idea that everyone hated him. In reality, they were indifferent to him. It was so stupid of him to have thought that they cared enough to hate him. They had just moved on. He should probably just move on, too.</p><p>His relationship with Vilira continued as normal. She paid less attention to him when he wasn’t gravid. When she did pay attention to him, it was more yelling and hitting than anything resembling the way a matesprit was supposed to treat him. When he was gravid, she was so gentle and sweet with him. She would tell him she loved him and cuddle him at night. Eridan knew she was doing this to make him want to be gravid again so he would get the positive attention and she would get eggs to sell. Eridan knew and it still worked. He desperately missed how good he felt when Vilira was being nice to him.</p><p>But to become gravid, one of her clients would have to pail him. That was painful to think about. He tried not to remember because when he did, he felt so uncomfortable. He felt worthless. He felt like his body wasn’t his own. Sometimes when Vilira would touch him, the memories would come rushing back. He would pull away from her, breathing heavily, and panicked. Somedays, he couldn’t handle being touched at all.</p><p>Vilira and Angela barely interacted. They lived in the same house, and that was the only reason they knew anything about each other. It was Eridan’s job to look after Angela and Vilira pretended she didn’t exist. Angela just called Vilira his matesprit. Eridan knew it was better this way. Vilira helping him raise her was a bad fantasy to have. Vilira ignoring Angela was much better than the possibility of her hurting Angela.</p><p>When Eridan woke up in the middle of the night to shouting in the kitchen, he was very worried. He peeked around the corner to see what Vilira and Angela were yelling about just in time to see Vilira hit Angela, knocking her to the ground.</p><p>He knew he had entered a rage, but he didn’t care. He got between his daughter and Vilira. He felt this strange burning energy build up in his chest. His instincts told him to push his hands out like he was trying to push air at Vilira. The burning energy, in less than a second, travelled up his arms, and shot out of his hands in a bright blast of energy he hadn’t seen since his wand had been broken.</p><p>He came down from the rage, staring at Vilira’s smoldering body in the wreckage of what had once been the wall of their house, with Angela hugging him and crying. The other gods were sure to hate him now. They wouldn’t believe he had no idea he could do that. He knew they had all received powers from being brought into the world god tiered, so they would think he had known about his powers already.</p><p>He had killed someone again. He had killed his matesprit. What would he do now? What could he do? He was dangerous. He was a danger to himself and everyone around him. He was a danger to his daughter, and it was his responsibility to keep her safe. It was his responsibility to get her away from him. He had always known he shouldn’t have a kid. Sure she loved him, but at what cost? She had no horns, her mother pretended she didn’t exist, and she was stuck with him as a guardian.</p><p>He had destroyed the matriob and all possibility of the trolls’ ever reproducing during the game. Being made oviparous was his punishment for that. He was turned into a mutant and had to physically make more trolls so he could understand the severity of what he had done. So he could understand what he had destroyed in an effort to show everyone how hopeless he felt. So he could understand the pain Kanaya felt, each time his eggs were taken from his to be slaughtered. The whole time, it had just been a sick joke. He never should’ve been allowed to have a kid.</p><p>He decided he had to bring Angela somewhere where she would be safe. Eridan stole Vilira's car and drove towards where the gods lived. Angela didn't say anything the whole car ride. She just stared out the window.</p><p>He reached the house Kanaya shared with the human Rose. He led Angela to the doorstep. He knelt down and hugged her.</p><p>“I’m goin to leav-ve. W-when you can’t see me anymore, ring the doorbell. Okay?”</p><p>“Why?” Angela started to cry and her hands clinging to Eridan’s shirt shook.</p><p>“Please, you hav-ve to listen to me. I’m dangerous, you hav-ve to stay w-with Ms. Maryam.”</p><p>Angela let go of his shirt and put her hands to her face. Before he could rethink his actions, and choose the selfish choice of taking Angela with him, he left.</p><p>He didn't have a plan. All he knew was that he was going to run away like the coward he is. He went into the ring of temples, and came face to face with his own. It loomed above him and he stopped to look at it. It looked so peaceful. It had flowers and decorations around the door and a sign that read “please come back”.</p><p>Eridan felt his heart sink into his stomach. He hadn't known they wanted him to come back. By killing Vilira, he had destroyed every hope of them ever wanting him back again. He felt the burning energy in his chest. He shoved his arms out at his temple. As it exploded, he was hit with a rush of dizziness. His legs gave out and the world went dark.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Come sit down inside and you can tell me what’s wrong, okay?” Kanaya guided Angela inside and to the living room couch.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kanaya woke up to the doorbell ringing. Someone was pressing the button over and over again. She got up and went to see who it was. She was angry for being woken up and for the annoying noise being repeated, but that anger disappeared when Kanaya saw who was at the door.</p><p>Angela stopped ringing the doorbell as soon as it opened. She was crying so hard her whole body shook.</p><p>“Angela, are you okay? What are you doing here?”</p><p>“M-my d-dad dropped m-me off and told m-e to stay w-w-with you.” Angela was crying so hard she kept desperately gasping for breath whenever she tried to speak.</p><p>“Come sit down inside, and you can tell me what’s wrong. Okay?” Kanaya guided Angela inside and to the living room couch. Rose had woken up, too, and she watched them from the kitchen. Kanaya waited until Angela wasn’t crying as hard.</p><p>“What happened?" Kanaya asked.</p><p>“It’s my fault!”</p><p>“What is?”</p><p>“I was arguing with my dad’s matesprit about how she hit him, and she got mad and hit me, and then dad blasted her and now she’s dead!” Angela started crying harder again.</p><p>“Your dad shot his matesprit?” Kanaya’s eyes widened and she glanced at Rose. Rose looked back at her, just as concerned.</p><p>“He didn’t shoot her, he blasted her.” Angela demonstrated by shoving her hands out, palms facing away from her.</p><p>“Perhaps he was using his god tier powers,” Rose chipped in from the kitchen.</p><p>“My dad is not a god, though.” Angela squinted at Rose. Her pouty face was just like Eridan's.</p><p>“Did your dad shoot magical looking white light out of his hands?” Kanaya asked.</p><p>“It was a white light, but magic isn't real. It wasn’t on purpose! He was trying to keep her away from me, and he looked scared afterwards! He never told me he could do that, and I don’t think he knew! He was scared, too.” Angela looked at Kanaya, with desperation written across her face.</p><p>“Why did he bring you here?” Rose walked over to the couch.</p><p>“He told me he had to leave me here because he was dangerous.” Angela slid further down on the couch. “I want him to come back!”</p><p>Then for the second time that night, the doorbell rang. Rose went to answer the door. Kanaya stayed with Angela on the couch. Rose walked back into the living room and gestured for Kanaya to follow her out of view of Angela. Whoever had been at the door had already left when Kanaya walked over.</p><p>“Karakat came over to tell us that reports of an explosion seemingly caused by hope in the next city over were coming in when the Prince of Hope temple exploded, too. All healers and hope players have been sent to see what caused the explosion at the temple and if anyone was hurt.” Rose put her hand on Kanaya’s shoulder.</p><p>“Did you tell them what Angela told us about Eridan?” Kanaya asked.</p><p>“I did.”</p><p>“Did you tell him about Angela?”</p><p>“I told him that we got the information from Eridan’s daughter that he dropped off here. He said, quote, who the fuck gave him a kid, unquote.”</p><p>“Before all this, I really thought he had changed. Angela loved him so much.” Kanaya put her hands to her face. “I hope he’s okay.”</p><p>“I do as well, for Angela’s sake.”</p><p>“For Angela’s sake.”</p>
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